‘globish – The World Over’ by Jean-Paul Nerriere and David Hon
reviewed by Tarun Patel
‘Globish – The World Over’ is a 168-page ebook written by Jean-Paul Nerriere and David Hon. This ebook is divided into two parts – ‘The Problem with Learning English’ and ‘Elements of Globish’. It featuers 23 chapters. The ISBN of ‘Globish’ is 978-2-212-86542-4. The price of the book is $9.95.
‘Globish’ observes how a billion people are in need of a consistent language to do business across the globe, describes how the problem is being solved by many non-native English speakers, and discusses the specific outlines of the Globish approach that is being noted as perhaps the only possibility for true Global talk.
David and Jean have written this book to aid those who use English as a tool for their communication. To form their viewpoint at the very beginning of the book, David and Jean say, “The English language seems to be the most important communication tool for the international world. But now it must be a kind of English which can be learned quickly and used very easily – not like Standard English. The people who know a little are already using what they know. It works for them – a little. But… they often have families and jobs. They cannot spend enough time or enough money to learn all of English. And English speakers think these people will “never be good enough” in English. It is a problem. We think Globish is a solution.”
In the initial chapters of this ebook Jean and David have talked about the demographics that the English language dominates as a most widely used language.
To describe this dominance they have put the following image, which is an self-explanatory example of wide spectrum of English language.
Image from page# 19
According to David and Jean, ‘Globish’ is a language that enables people to satisfy all their communication needs in 1500 words. They say:
“Globish is correct English”
“Globish spelling is English spelling”
“Globish sounds like English”
“Globish uses the same letters, markings and numbers as English”
“Globish uses the basic grammar of English, with fewer Tenses, Voices, and Moods.”
Globish has 1500 words, expandable in four ways:
– different use of same word,
– combinations of words,
– short additions to words,
– and Phrasal Verbs.
They have also talked about the limitations of Globish and enlisted all 1500 words which form Globish.
In the later chapters of the book the authors have focused on other aspects of Globish which are very interesting for everyone who uses English.
They have made this book easy to read by explaining all the technical words appropriately.
IT would be worth spending $9.95to read this book which has come with a new concept and could make a BIG story in terms of communication.
You can buy this ebook from Jean’s website: http://www.globish.com
Author Biographies
Jean-Paul Nerrière
As a vice-president of IBM Europe Middle East & Africa, Jean-Paul Nerrière was noted worldwide for his foresight in urging IBM to sell services instead of “selling iron”. With IBM USA as a Vice President in charge of International Marketing, he was also using and observing English – daily – in its many variations. Nerrière’s personal experience the world over enlightened him to a not-so-obvious solution to the global communication problem – Globish. Recently this has resulted in his best-selling books on Globish in French, Korean, Spanish and Italian, and the word Globish being known everywhere.
Nerrière has also been knighted with the Légion d’honneur, the highest award France can give.
David Hon
As a young man, David Hon jumped off helicopters in Vietnam and taught English in South America. He had an MA in English and thought that someday he would write about English as an international communication tool.
However, a different direction, into the computer age, led Hon to develop the world’s first realistic medical simulators. He won international awards and created a successful company, Ixion, to produce those computerized simulators.
A short time back, he came upon Nerrière’s Globish ideas, and Hon knew that this book in Globish was the one he had intended to write long ago.
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